Grammys, ‘Home’ Movie Keep CBS on Top

The highest-rated Grammy Awards in five years and the Jack Lemmon movie “The Long Way Home” helped keep CBS on the victory stand after the Winter Olympics, despite a lukewarm reception for a trio of new series, based on results issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

Tom Selleck’s CBS sitcom “The Closer” opened respectably, but the Ann-Margret soap “Four Corners” looked nearly dead on arrival, and a new version of “Candid Camera” developed just so-so ratings. CBS also slipped to third in nightly news, as NBC moved back into the driver’s seat.

ABC, meanwhile, saw “Pocahontas” paddle off with lackluster numbers compared to past telecasts of Disney’s animated hits, while the tribute to

actor Christopher Reeve that followed finished a distant fourth Sunday behind CBS’ movie, Fox’s “The X-Files” and NBC’s showing of “Braveheart.”

ABC’s week would have been worse without Oprah Winfrey’s “The Wedding” and “Home Improvement,” which aired twice Feb. 24, topping this season’s lowest-rated “Mad About You” with a rerun before handily beating “Frasier.” NBC does have room for optimism with “Just Shoot Me,” which retained 90% of “Friends” viewers in its new Thursday slot--a solid improvement over the holding power of canceled predecessor “Union Square.”

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Network Averages

Here is the number of viewers that each network averaged per hour of prime time, for last week and for the season.

Last Week

CBS: 15.61 million

NBC: 15.45

ABC: 12.31

FOX: 11.81

WB: 4.64

UPN: 3.82

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Season to Date

NBC: 15.32 million

CBS: 14.73

ABC: 12.60

FOX: 10.86

WB: 4.51

UPN: 4.15

Southland Viewing

Here are Nielsen’s Top 10 prime-time programs in the Los Angeles area during the same week. The rankings are based on the number of households watching.

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Program Station Households 1. Seinfeld KNBC 1,227,261 2. ER KNBC 1,122,068 3. Veronica’s Closet KNBC 1,011,864 4. Friends KNBC 1,001,846 5. The X-Files KTTV 991,828 6. Grammy Awards KCBS 981,809 7. 60 Minutes KCBS 966,781 8. “The Wedding” Pt. 2 KABC 856,578 9. Touched by an Angel KCBS 841,551 10. Just Shoot Me KNBC 836,541

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